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Three residents were left with rain-soaked carpet in the Woodcrest Apartments after last week’s flash flooding, causing the students to abandon the flooded apartment and move into Callahan Hall.

A maintenance worker came to aid the situation and said he didn’t know what was wrong, according to Blake Tharp, junior and Computer Information Technology major.

In attempt to save the carpet, the worker brought in a fan to try and dry it. On Aug. 29, Tharp and his roommates received an email saying they had to relocate to Callahan Hall temporarily until the problem was fixed.

The three roommates were relocated to a room normally meant to be occupied by two residents, so Tharp decided to stay with a friend instead.

“I’m checked in but honestly I’m just living with a friend. I’m living somewhere else. I mean we have so much stuff, it’s just not gonna fit. They said to pack just the essentials, clothes, bath stuff, whatever,” Tharp said. “But I don’t know how long this is going to last. I mean, I don’t know if it’s just going to be a couple days, weeks. I don’t know anything, so I don’t really know what to pack. I prepared for the long term, essentially.”

Another roommate, Keegan Setters, junior and Computer Information Technology major, said he was not happy about the three of them being placed in a two person bedroom.

“When I found out that it was a two person room, I was beyond angry that they didn’t have something in the village that’s closer to campus so I don’t have to drive here in the morning or take the shuttle,” Setters said.

Three beds were put in the two-person dorm room in Callahan to accommodate the situation, but there were only two desks. If all three of them were to stay, Setters explained, he wouldn’t have room for his computer to do labs and other homework.

Setters said their third roommate was the only person whose belongings got wet.

“I think a couple of his boxes got wet and a couple of his books were wet,” Setters said. “But he said it wasn’t a big deal, he put weights on them.”

Tharp also said he had been relocated during the summer while living in the apartment due to an issue with the air conditioner.

“I’m not mad, there’s only so much that they can do and that maintenance can do,” Tharp said. “It’s a frustrating situation to be in especially since this is the second time I’ve had to leave unexpectedly. I’m curious to see if the issue with the apartment was something that could have been preventable.”

Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement Arnie Slaughter oversees University Housing. He said this situation was unfortunate but not preventable due to the basement location of the apartment and the inclement weather.

“Thankfully there were no structural damages, and there were no damages to the resident’s property, and we were able to identify the situation very early to make sure that there was no safety concerns,” Slaughter said. “I’m proud of our facility’s team because we’ve had situations that have happened that have been unfortunate, weather related, fuses blown, etc.

“And the response rate has always been amazing, and it’s been amazing because our residents have been great at, if they notice something out of the ordinary, they contact someone immediately.”

According to Slaughter, the residents were relocated so maintenance can examine the living space to ensure there is no serious damage that would be intrusive to the residents.

“Thankfully in this particular case, because the residents did contact the RA on duty, we were able to address the issue. We were able to provide a temporary solution, while we were tending to said issue,” Slaughter said. “And we are able to correct any problems that may emerge before the residents transition back to the particular unit.”